Fight a goblin.
Having made that decision, we ventured into the forest, taking care not to engage any monsters along the way.
We wanted to face our target in peak condition.
Under no circumstances did we want to run out of mana mid-fight and find ourselves at a disadvantage.
After going over that plan, Philia and I began scouring the woods.
"We're not having much luck, are we?"
"Yeah. I spotted a couple of pairs, but a stray, solitary goblin is proving pretty hard to find... Do you think they started sticking together because of that dungeon appearing nearby?"
"It's definitely possible. Goblins are low-tier monsters, but they're still known to possess a certain level of intelligence."
Three types of low-tier monsters inhabited this forest.
Slimes and horn rabbits had next to no intelligence.
They were simple-minded creatures that would blindly throw themselves at anything they perceived as an enemy.
Goblins, however, were an entirely different story.
They had enough wits about them to coordinate with their peers and stalk prey.
"All of that was written in the Adventurer's Guide, by the way. Did you actually read it, Philia?"
"...I started it, but I haven't finished the whole thing. Did you already finish it, Erik-kun?"
"The place I'm staying at had a copy, so I borrowed it and read it from cover to cover. I can't say I've memorized every single detail, but I've got the broad strokes down."
"That's amazing... Whenever I try reading a book, I just get sleepy, so I've only made it about halfway through."
Philia truly seemed to be a die-hard hater of studying.
Even so, the fact that she was pushing herself to read it because she recognized the value of the Adventurer's Guide was commendable.
As we continued talking and walking through the trees, we spotted a solitary goblin up ahead.
"Found one."
We immediately ducked into cover and surveyed the area.
It was indeed a stray.
In terms of build, it looked no different from the rest of its kind.
Standing with green skin, it was about a meter tall even fully grown.
In its hand, it gripped a crude club.
"Philia. What's the plan? Should we face it head-on, or just end it in a flash with magic?"
"...If we're hunting it for practice, I think you should get some proper combat experience out of it too, Erik-kun, not just me. We spent all this time tracking it down, so wouldn't a direct fight be better?"
From a training standpoint, she was entirely right.
The safest course of action was to blast it with magic before it even noticed us.
However, after spending an entire hour searching, doing that wouldn't teach either of us anything.
"Understood. In that case, let me check our surroundings one more time. If there are others nearby, we'll get dragged into back-to-back fights."
Philia nodded.
Taking out my magic tool, I scanned the area for nearby monsters.
I could detect a few presences several dozen meters out, but that was typical for the forest.
There didn't appear to be any reinforcements in the immediate vicinity.
Having made sure, we stepped out into the goblin's line of sight.
"Gugya?!"
The goblin's gaze snapped toward us.
Humans are enemies.
Aware of that fundamental rule, it wore a momentary look of surprise upon seeing our faces.
A second later, a crude sneer spread across its features as it hoisted its club onto its shoulder.
"Gugya!"
The moment it registered me and Philia, it charged.
Seeing that we were just kids, it probably assumed we would be an easy meal.
I braced my shield to meet the goblin's strike.
The swing carried decent momentum.
Even so, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
"Hmph! Philia, now!"
"On it!"
With her chant already complete, Philia unleashed her spell straight at the goblin.
At such close range, caught in the follow-through of its swing, the goblin had no room to dodge or brace itself. It took the magical blast dead-on.
Less than five meters separated them, meaning the spell struck at point-blank range.
With a massive hole blasted through its torso by water magic, the goblin collapsed to the dirt, lifeless.
"When we combine our strength, we can handle it pretty easily, can't we? Maybe we didn't need to be so cautious around goblins after all."
"No, we only won just now because of everything we've practiced up to this point. It was entirely thanks to our teamwork."
I had chosen to absorb the blow specifically to protect Philia while she prepared her spell behind me.
Philia, trusting that I would keep her safe, had held her ground, completed her chant, and fired at the goblin.
It was only because of that mutual trust that we were able to stand toe-to-toe with the monster.
That shared reliance was the true reason for our victory.
"Well, a win's a win. It was great practice, too. Now we have a solid grasp of how strong a goblin actually is."
"So, what do you think? Want to keep hunting goblins from here on out?"
"Hmm... I don't quite have that much confidence yet. For now, I'd rather stick to strays and build up our experience."
"Sounds good to me. I put a little too much power into that spell anyway, so I'll try dialing it back next time."
With that decided, we harvested the proof of subjugation from our first goblin kill.
Goblin materials were essentially worthless to carry back.
However, simply leaving the carcass behind was bad practice, so we decided to dig a shallow pit and incinerate it.
"I'm really glad you learned Earth Magic, Erik-kun. You can make a hole in no time."
"I doubt this is what it was originally intended for, but being able to dig holes quickly is definitely convenient."
Using Earth Magic, I scooped out a pit and rolled the goblin's body inside.
Then, Philia incinerated the remains with her magic.
Once the cleanup was finished, we backfilled the hole with dirt and resumed our search for a second target.